High quality tablets with reinforced protection are a rarity

Jun 2, 2012 17:35 GMT  ·  By

New York based company DRS Technologies has just introduced the new ARMOR X7et and the ARMOR X7ad thin, lightweight tablets, on its official website. These are two 7” tablets that use Microsoft’s Windows 7 operating system as well as Google’s Android.

The ARMOR X7et is powered by Intel’s Atom Z670 low performance processor and uses Microsoft’s Windows 7 operating system.

This is a very low end part from Intel. It only has a single core that runs at 1.5 GHz and benefits from a small 512 KB of level 2 cache.

The processor can only address 2 GB of RAM memory so the Windows 7 operating system will be quite memory constrained.

The only good feat that the Z670 Atom processor can show is the fact that it uses only 3 watts of power while being able to operate at a maximum temperature of 90 degrees Celsius.

ARMOR X7ad is even lighter that its Windows based brother and it uses an ARM Cortex A9 based dual core processor.

That is Nvidia’s famous Tegra 2 chip that has enough performance to handle the Android 3.2 operating system. “Both lightweight tablets feature a 7” outdoor-readable multi-touch screen display. They are certified to MIL-STD 810G for extremes in temperature, vibration, shock and four-foot drops and have an IP65 rating for ingress protection, which means they are fully protected against dust and can withstand low pressure jets of water from all directions,” claims the company’s press release.

There still are some notable differences between the screens used by the two tablets.

The Windows/Intel Atom based ARMOR X7et uses a 7-inch WSVGA 1024x600 Transmissive 400-nit LED Backlit LCD.

The Android/Tegra 2 ARMOR X7ad uses a higher resolution 7-inch WXGA 1280x800 Transmissive 400-nit LED Backlit LCD.

Despite only having 1 GB of DDR2 memory, the Tegra 2 based tablet uses a higher resolution screen and weighs just 600 grams. That’s about 1.3 pounds versus the 1.5 pounds of the Atom based ARMOR X7et.

On the connectivity side, the ARMOR X7ad also comes with Mini USB, a HDMI port and a 3.5mm audio jack.

Other features are the built-in light sensor, the G-Sensor, the built-in 3-axis digital gyroscope, along with the two cameras: the front 1.2MP camera and the rear 5MP camera.

The autonomy is medium as the Android tablet comes with a 3700 mAh battery rated for around 6 hours.

The heavier ARMOR X7et Windows/Atom based tablet weighs 700 grams and that’s about 1.5 pounds. It also comes with just 1 GB of DDR2-800 memory and we wonder how Windows 7 Professional edition will behave under such conditions.

There is some hope from the fact that the virtual memory will reside on a 40 GB mSATA Intel SSD and that’s a lot more storage than ARMOR X7ad’s onboard 16GB eMMC Flash.

Also the Windows based ARMOT X7et comes with 4 programmable buttons.

DRS Tactical Systems also offer a very nice and useful 12” convertible tablet called ARMOR X12kb.

This one can operate in temperatures ranging from -20 degrees up to 50 degrees Celsius and weighs only 5.5 pounds. That’s about 2.2 Kg and this makes it the lightest tablet with its MIL-STD-810G certification.

The tablet comes with a spill proof keyboard and touchpad and dust-proof port covers. It is powered by Intel’s Core i5-560UM processor running at 1.33 GHz and having 3MB of level 3 cache.

The processors can Turbo up to 1867 MHz when both cores are requested and can reach even 2133 MHz when just one thread requires maximum performance. Most of the time it will run at 667 MHz to save energy.

The standard memory configuration is 2 GB DDR3 with a 320 GB HDD but a 4 GB with a 128 GB SSD configuration is also available as an option.

Although many of you were expecting an Ivy Bridge, this CPU is not even a Sandy Bridge part but an Arrandale core that uses a maximum of 18 watts.

The screen is a high quality 12.1” / 30.7 cm WXGA 1280 x 800 Transmissive 400 nit LED backlit LCD and the tablet comes with multiple extra buttons like Power, Display Rotation, Brightness Up, Brightness Down, Stealth Mode, Windows SAS, Quick Menu and the Program button.

Connectivity is well endowed with an USB 2.0 port, an e-SATA/USB Combo, a pair of RS-232 and RJ-45 connectors along with the usual audio jacks and the docking connector with the fingerprint scanner.

The operating system of choice is Windows 7 Professional, but there’s also a Windows 7 Ultimate option.

The system has a 5200 mAh battery and, with the optional 5000 mAh backup battery it is rated at around 8 hours of operation.

On general connectivity the press release states : “The three new ARMOR mobile computers include robust connectivity options including Gobi Wireless Broadband, integrated GPS, 802.11 b/g/n WiFi, and Bluetooth wireless. They are simply designed to make it easier for workers to use mobile computing, even in rugged environments.”

Pricing has not been made available yet, but it’s nice to see that Panasonic’s ToughBooks now have some real quality competition.

Photo Gallery (14 Images)

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